Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

PUBLIC ANGER AGAINST U.S. MILITARY BASE GROWS IN KYRGYZSTAN

The December 6, 2006, killing of Kyrgyz truck driver Alexander Ivanov by U.S. soldier Zachary Hatfield continues to fuel Kyrgyz public anger toward the U.S. military base in Kyrgyzstan. Hatfield left Kyrgyzstan on March 22 despite the Kyrgyz government’s appeal to keep the soldier on... MORE

DIPLOMATIC FRENZY AS NEW COLD WAR LOOMS

This week U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, en route to Moscow, told journalists that Russo-American relations are "not easy," but that the tensions do not amount to a new Cold War (AP, RIA-Novosti, May 14). During the Cold War era there were times of... MORE

ARMENIAN PARTY OF POWER WINS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

Armenia’s main “party of power” scored a landslide victory in the May 12 parliamentary elections that were essentially recognized as legitimate by the West and significantly boosted Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian’s chances of succeeding President Robert Kocharian early next year. The development is a huge... MORE

RUSSIA SURGING FARTHER AHEAD IN RACE FOR CENTRAL ASIAN GAS

Presidents Vladimir Putin, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov, and Nursultan Nazarbayev signed on May 12 a declaration of intent to upgrade and expand gas transport pipelines from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, along the Caspian Sea coast, directly to Russia. At their tripartite summit in the Turkmenistan’s city of Turkmenbashi,... MORE

RUSSIA’S IRKUTSK REGION SEEKS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Despite its abundant natural resources, the Irkutsk region of Siberia has struggled to capitalize on its significant economic potential, mainly because it has been hampered by inadequate investment, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov told a cabinet meeting on May 10. He also pointed out that average... MORE

YUSHCHENKO REPLACES KEY SECURITY AIDE

On Saturday, May 12, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko replaced Vitaly Hayduk with Ivan Plyushch in the post of secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC). Hayduk -- co-owner of the steel company Industrial Union of Donbas along with Serhy Taruta -- is a... MORE

KRAKOW PRO-WESTERN ENERGY SUMMIT OUTMANEUVERED BY PUTIN IN CENTRAL ASIA

Originally suggested more than a year ago (https://www.jamestown.org/events_details.php?event_id=12), a summit of energy producer, transit, and consumer countries was held, albeit in a truncated format, on May 11 in Krakow, Poland. Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine, Lech Kaczynski... MORE

PUTIN’S DOUBLE TRIUMPH NOT YET IN THE BAG

While Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently had serious disagreements with the United States and the European Union and bitter quarrels with Belarus and Ukraine, he has always been at his diplomatic best in Central Asia. Putin’s ongoing six-day visit to the region appears to... MORE